Multi-Component Reversible Animal Waste Bag

ABSTRACT

An animal waste bag includes a central pouch and one or more additional pouches formed exterior to the central pouch such that each additional pouch is successively exterior to the preceding pouch. The central and additional pouches are configured to successively retrieve and contain animal waste via their respective successive inversion.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Application No. 62/540,161, filed onAug. 2, 2017, the entire contents of which are hereby expresslyincorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed invention relates to reversible animal waste bags havingmultiple compartments.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Animal waste management, particularly the clean-up of animal waste frompublic and non-public areas such as parks, curbsides, etc., currentlyinvolves picking up the animal waste using a single compartment,single-use plastic disposable bag.

However, the need for an animal, e.g., a pet, to relieve itself is oftenunpredictable. Thus, the number of animal waste bags required toadequately manage animal waste during any given time period (e.g.,during a walk or longer journey) may exceed the number of single usebags available.

This can lead to frustration, embarrassment, and violating local petcurbing laws, if animal waste is left unattended. Unsanitaryimprovisation efforts to clean up the animal waste may also result. Thisrisk and challenge is compounded when one owns multiple dogs.

On the other hand, it is inconvenient to carry more waste bags thanabsolutely necessary in anticipation of avoiding this need.

Single-use disposable animal waste bags also raise concerns for theenvironment, as landfills take on millions of pounds of plastic fromsingle use animal waste bags every year.

Multi-compartment animal waste bags are therefore described herein,which multi-compartment animal waste bags provide advantages overconventional single-use animal waste bags.

The multi-compartment animal waste bag allows for the retrieval andstorage of multiple pet wastes in separate compartments or pouchesformed of separate walls of flexible material bonded together alongrespective edges. The respective walls are bonded together to form theseparate compartments, each having an opening defined by the bondededges. The edges may be sealed, folded or otherwise enclosed to preventwaste material to flow between compartments. In operation, after onecompartment is inverted during waste retrieval, the additionalcompartments may be used for further waste retrieval.

The several walls of the animal waste bag may be formed of flexiblematerial, such as but not limited to high or low density Polyethylene,polypropylene, Bio-degradable and compostable plastics, corn, vegetable,wheat and plant starches, partially or wholly recycled material, resin,metal composite petroleum films, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl, silicone,paper, paper composites with synthetic fibers and the like.

First and second walls of material may be formed in substantiallyrectangular, curved or polygonal shape, and may be sealed at respectiveperipheral edges, leaving an edge unsealed or otherwise open so as tocreate an open pocket. Another wall of material may be similarly formedand bonded to an adjacent wall of material at the perimeter edges so asto form a second open pocket. Further compartments may be similarlyformed. Each wall of material that is added may be successively lower inheight than the previous wall to which it is bonded.

In operation, a user inserts his/her hand into an unused open pocket ofthe animal waste bag, and, using the walls of material as a protectivebarrier, the user retrieves the animal waste material, inverting thepocket being used so as to deposit the waste material therein. Afterinversion, another unused open pocket is available for the user toretrieve a second animal waste material. To retrieve the second wastematerial, the user inserts his/her hand into another unused open pocket,and, using the walls of material as a protective barrier, the userretrieves the animal waste material, inverting the pocket being used soas to deposit the waste material therein.

The animal waste bag may be made as a singular unit or as multiple unitsattached adjacent to one another and perforated to allow for detachment.The animal waste bag accordingly may be folded and rolled unto itself ora spindle.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following more detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way ofexample, the principles of the presently described embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A-3J are perspective views of the animal waste bag in useaccording to at least one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the animal waste bag according toat least one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the animal waste bag according toat least one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the animal waste bag according toat least one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16A is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16B is a cross-sectional view of the animal waste bag according toat least one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 16C is a perspective view of the animal waste bag according to atleast one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above described drawing figures illustrate the disclosed inventionin at least one of its preferred, best mode embodiment, which is furtherdefined in detail in the following description. Those having ordinaryskill in the art may be able to make alterations and modifications towhat is described herein without departing from its spirit and scope.While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail a preferred embodiment of the invention with the understandingthat the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification ofthe principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the broadaspects of the invention to any embodiment illustrated. Therefore, itshould be understood that what is illustrated is set forth only for thepurposes of example and should not be taken as a limitation on the scopeof the disclosed invention.

Referring to the Figures, an animal waste bag 10 comprises a centralpouch 20 and at least one additional pouch 40. The pouches are arrangedsuch that each such additional pouch is successively exterior to thepouch preceding it, in a direction beginning with the central pouch andproceeding outward.

There may be a predetermined height differential 32 between therespective openings of the central pouch and one or more additionalpouches, and/or between successive additional pouches. This heightdifferential allows for easy identification of unused pouches, andfacilitates hand insertion therein. Forces such as static electricityand other similar forces that cause the walls to adhere together cantherefore be dealt with more efficiently via the height differential.The height differential is preferably from approximately 1 cm to 10 cm,and more preferably from approximately 1 cm to 5 cm.

Each pouch is preferably formed of respective walls of flexiblematerial, preferably: high or low density polyethylene, polypropylene,Polyvinylidene chloride, bio-degradable starch or vegetable basedcomposites, metal composite petroleum films, polyvinyl alcohol, vinyl,paper, paper and or natural or synthetic fiber composites, recycledpaper or paper pulp and the like. The thickness of the walls ispreferably between 1 mils and 6 mils, but may be of any thickness thatpermits the functionality described herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates the animal waste bag having the central pouch, and asingle additional pouch. The pouches are formed via a sequence of bondedwalls. A first wall 22 is bonded to a second wall 24 at respectiveperipheries so as to form a peripheral bond 12. The walls may be bondedat respective left edges 12A, right edges 12C and bottom edges 12B so asto form the peripheral bond. A third wall 42 is similarly bonded to thesecond wall. The third wall may be of shorter height than the firstand/or second walls, in accordance with a first height differential 32,preferably from approximately 1 cm to 10 cm.

The walls may be bonded via heat sealing, sonic welding, die cut heatseal, compression bonding or welding, heat transfer, epoxy or gluing, ormechanical bonding. Preferably, the width of the peripheral bond isapproximately from 0.01 mm to 2.00 mm.

In some embodiments, the animal waste bag comprises a continuous sheetof material that has been folded upon itself (or multiple sheets ofmaterial stacked) so as to form the respective walls, which are thenheat sealed and die cut at the respective edges so as to form theperipheral bond. Material may then be removed, if necessary, to form thecentral pouch and/or one or more of the at least one additional pouch.In some embodiments, the sheet of material may comprise a tube of blownplastic film that has been rolled flat.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of cross section A-A notated inillustration FIG. 1. As shown, the first wall, the second wall and thethird wall are bonded together via the peripheral bond. The centralpouch and the additional pouch having respective openings are therebydefined. In other words, the first wall and the second wall are joinedvia peripheral bond to define the central pouch, while the second walland the third wall are joined via peripheral bond to define theadditional pouch.

The sharing of walls between pouches helps conserve resources, as theinventive animal waste bag uses less material than a comparable numberof single-use bags. For example, a two-compartment animal waste bag inaccordance with the disclosed embodiments uses approximately 25% lessmaterial than two single-use bags.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A-J, an exemplary use of the animal waste bag toretrieve animal waste material 16 in accordance with at least oneembodiment will be described.

A user inserts his/her hand 14 into the additional pouch via its opening(FIG. 3A). Using the second wall and the third wall as a protectiveshield, the user retrieves the animal waste material by deforming thewalls to encompass the animal waste material (FIG. 3B). Retaining theanimal waste material within the confines of the second and third walls,the user inverts the additional pouch (FIG. 3C). The inverted additionalpouch thereby contains the animal waste material, leaving the centralpouch unused and available for retrieving additional animal wastematerial (FIG. 3D-3E).

To retrieve the additional animal waste material, the user insertshis/her hand into the central pouch via its opening (FIG. 3F). At thisphase, animal waste material is contained within the inverted additionalpouch, but the user's hand is protected from the animal waste materialby the second wall. The additional animal waste material is thenretrieved using the central pouch in a similar manner as the additionalpouch was used, namely, by inverting the central pouch around theadditional animal waste material 28 (FIG. 3D-3I). The inverted centralpouch thereby contains the additional animal waste material, while theadditional pouch contains the animal waste material (FIG. 3J).

As shown, for example, in FIG. 4, the animal waste bag may includehandles 90 for carrying the animal waste bag. In some embodiments, thehandles may comprise cutouts in the walls of the central pouch. In someembodiments, as shown for example in FIG. 6, the handles may comprisecarrying handles jointly extending from the first wall and the secondwall, which carrying handles can be used to tie and close the animalwaste bag so as to seal in odors and secure waste articles.

Returning to FIG. 4, the animal waste bag may further include one ormore adhesive strips 80 configured to seal associated pouches after suchpouches have been used, thereby sealing the animal waste materialtherein. As such, the adhesive strips are preferably located proximal tothe respective openings of the associated pouches. The adhesive stripsalso preferably traverse the openings of their respective associatedpouches. The adhesive strips are also preferably located on the side ofat least one wall forming the respective associated pouch, such sidebeing the side that, after inversion of the associated pouch, theadhesive strip is operable to adhesively seal the associated pouch.

The adhesive strip may be of any adhesive substance, but is preferably atacky synthetic or natural glue. A disposable covering 82 may also coverthe adhesive strip so as to prevent the adhesive strip from prematurelyor inadvertently adhering to the walls, or any other material. Thedisposable covering may be constructed of paper, plastic sheeting orsimilar material coated with a layer of wax, non-adhesive, hydrophilicor similar coating. The disposable strip of material is preferablyreadily uncouplable from the adhesive strip when the need to seal theassociated pouch arises, e.g., after retrieving animal waste material inthe associated pouch.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the adhesive strip is located along theexterior side of the third wall, such that, when the additional pouch isinverted during use, the adhesive strip faces the second wall. Thedisposable covering may then be removed so that the adhesive strip cancouple the third wall to the second wall. This coupling will close theadditional pouch securing the animal waste material therein. The usermay then proceed to use the central pouch to retrieve the additionalanimal waste material, as discussed herein.

Alternatively, the animal waste bag may be partially or wholly made oftextured plastic 2 that may lock and secure the contents when its wallsare pressed together. This is shown, for example, in FIG. 16A-C.

FIGS. 5-6 illustrate the animal waste bag in accordance with at leastone embodiment, in which the at least one additional pouch comprises theadditional pouch and a further additional pouch 60. The furtheradditional pouch is formed via a further wall 62 similarly bonded to thefirst wall at the peripheral bond. Alternatively, or in addition, thefurther additional pouch, or successive additional pouches may be formedvia respective further walls similarly bonded to the third wall, or toeach other, in succession.

As shown in FIGS. 5-8, there may be several height differentials betweenthe pouches. The first height differential may exist between the centralpouch and the additional pouch, preferably from approximately 1 cm to 10cm. A second height differential 34 may exist between the central pouchand the further additional pouch, preferably from approximately 0.5 cmto 5 cm. A third height differential 36 may exist between the additionalpouch and the further additional pouch, preferably from approximately0.5 cm to 5 cm. It will be understood, however, that respective heightdifferentials are not necessary, nor are they necessarily unique asbetween pouches.

The animal waste bag having further additional pouches is operated inaccordance with the descriptions herein. That is to say, each successivepouch is inverted to retrieve and contain animal waste therein.Accordingly, successive height differentials are useful for identifyingthe sequence in which the open pockets should be used to retrieve andcontain animal waste material. Referring to the example of FIGS. 5-8 forillustration, by starting with the additional pouch, which has theshortest wall, and then moving onto the further additional pouch, whichhas the next shortest wall, and so on until the user reaches the centralpouch, the user can successfully retrieve and contain separate instancesof animal waste material in a systematic, and orderly process whileusing less material. This also allows for the quick identification ofavailable compartments in limited light situations.

FIGS. 9-10 illustrate the animal waste bag in accordance with at leastone embodiment, in which the respective pouches are formed so as to beinverted with respect to each other, and so as to have respectiveopenings located approximately central to the animal waste bag. Byinverting and locating the respective openings of the pouches at themidpoint of the bag, confusion as to which opening the user is insertingtheir hand may be avoided.

As shown in FIGS. 9-10, the first wall, the second wall, and the thirdwall are formed from a single sheet of material that has been folded atthe bottom edge, joining the first and third walls, and a top edge 12D,joining the first and second walls. The walls are also bonded atrespective left edges and right edges. In an alternative to folds, therespective walls may likewise be bonded at the bottom edge and the topedge.

The first wall and the second wall are formed such that they define thecentral pouch therebetween, whose opening faces downward, whereas thefirst wall and the third wall are formed such that they define theadditional pouch therebetween, whose opening faces upward. Therespective openings of the pouches are located approximately central tothe animal waste bag, i.e., they are located at approximately half ofheight of the first wall. Preferably, the respective openings do notdeviate from this midline 38 by more than approximately one-third of theheight of the first wall.

An overlap 44 may also exist between the second wall and the third wall,which allows for the user to have a clear defined single open pouch inwhich to insert his/her hand. The edges of the respective openings mayalso be folded upon themselves again to form a lip that, when inverted,prevents contents from spilling out.

Adhesive strips may also be utilized in accordance with the priordiscussion. Alternatively, the animal waste bag may be made of texturedplastic that may lock and secure the contents when its walls are pressedtogether.

In operation, inverting the additional pouch during the retrieval andstorage of animal waste material in the additional pouch provides accessto the central pouch via the inversion. In other words, the user's handis inserted into the additional pouch so as to retrieve the animal wastematerial, invert the additional pouch, and thereby capture the animalwaste material in the additional pouch. The adhesive strip may then beutilized to couple the third wall to the first wall. At this point, theopening of the central pouch is more or less exposed due to theinversion of the additional pouch, permitting the user to insert his/herhand into the central pouch so as to retrieve additional animal wastematerial, invert the central pouch, and thereby capture the additionalanimal waste material in the central pouch.

FIGS. 11-12 illustrate the animal waste bag in accordance with at leastone embodiment, in which the pouch features illustrated in FIGS. 1-8 arecombined with the pouch features illustrated in FIGS. 9-10. Thestructure and operation of such embodiments are believed to be apparentfrom the foregoing discussion, and are not described further here forthe sake of brevity.

FIG. 13 illustrates the animal waste bag in accordance with at least oneembodiment, in which five pouches are formed in accordance with thepouch features illustrated in FIGS. 1-8. Accordingly, FIG. 13 isillustrative of a plurality of additional pouches formed by addingsuccessive walls of material to form successive additional pouches suchthat each such additional pouch is successively exterior to the pouchpreceding it, in a direction beginning with the central pouch andproceeding outward. Any number of additional pouches may be addedwithout departing from the scope of the invention. FIG. 13 alsoillustrates how successive height differentials aid in the ease of use.The structure and operation of such embodiments are believed to beapparent from the foregoing discussion, and are not described furtherhere for the sake of brevity.

FIGS. 14-15 illustrate the animal waste bag in accordance with at leastone embodiment, in which the respective pouches are formed in accordancewith the pouch features illustrated in FIGS. 9-10, except that thecentral pouch opening and the additional pouch opening are located onopposing sides of the first wall. The structure and operation of suchembodiments are believed to be apparent from the foregoing discussion,and are not described further here for the sake of brevity.

FIGS. 16-18 illustrate the animal waste bag in accordance with at leastone embodiment, in which the respective pouches are formed such thattheir openings are located at different edges of the animal waste bag.For example, as illustrated, the additional pouch is formed such thatits opening is located at the left edge of the animal waste bag. Thestructure and operation of such embodiments are otherwise consistentwith embodiments discussed herein, are believed to be apparent from theforegoing discussion, and are not described further here for the sake ofbrevity.

Moreover, although the respective openings are shown herein as extendingthe entirety of an edge, such openings may extend over only part of theedge. Accordingly, the animal waste material may be further securedafter retrieval.

The embodiments described in detail above are considered novel over theprior art of record and are considered critical to the operation of atleast one aspect of the invention and to the achievement of theobjectives of the invention. The words used in this specification todescribe the exemplary embodiments are to be understood not only in thesense of their commonly defined meanings, but also to include anyspecial definition with regard to structure, material or acts that wouldbe understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art to apply in thecontext of the entire disclosure.

The definitions of the words or drawing elements described herein aremeant to include not only the combination of elements which areliterally set forth, but all equivalent structures, materials or actsfor performing substantially the same function in substantially the sameway to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense it istherefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or moreelements may be made for any one of the elements described and itsvarious embodiments or that a single element may be substituted for twoor more elements in a claim without departing from the scope of theinvention.

Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person withordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expresslycontemplated as being equivalents within the scope intended and itsvarious embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later knownto one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scopeof the defined elements. This disclosure is thus meant to be understoodto include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what isconceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and alsowhat incorporates the essential ideas.

The scope of this description is to be interpreted in conjunction withthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An animal waste bag, comprising: a central pouch;and one or more additional pouches formed exterior to the central pouchsuch that each additional pouch is successively exterior to thepreceding pouch, wherein the central and additional pouches areconfigured to successively retrieve and contain animal waste via theirrespective successive inversion.
 2. The animal waste bag of claim 1,further comprising: a first wall and a second wall joined at respectiveperipheries so as to form the central pouch; and a third wall joined tothe second wall at respective peripheries so as to form a second pouchof the one or more additional pouches.
 3. The animal waste bag of claim2, wherein the third wall is shorter than the second wall.
 4. The animalwaste bag of claim 2, wherein a central pouch opening is inverted withrespect to a second pouch opening.
 5. The animal waste bag of claim 2,wherein a central pouch opening is located on an opposite side of thefirst wall than a second pouch opening.
 6. The animal waste bag of claim2, further comprising: a fourth wall joined to the first wall atrespective peripheries so as to form a third pouch of the one or moreadditional pouches.
 7. The animal waste bag of claim 6, wherein thefourth wall is shorter than the first wall.
 8. The animal waste bag ofclaim 1, wherein a central pouch opening is inverted with respect to anopening of at least one of the one or more additional pouches.
 9. Theanimal waste bag of claim 1, wherein the central pouch opening islocated on an opposite side of the first wall than an opening of atleast one of the one or more additional pouches.
 10. The animal wastebag of claim 1, wherein each pouch is reversible.
 11. The animal wastebag of claim 2, further comprising: a further wall joined to a wallforming one of the one or more additional pouches at respectiveperipheries so as to thereby form a further pouch, wherein the furtherwall is shorter than the wall.
 12. The animal waste bag of claim 11,wherein each pouch is reversible.
 13. The animal waste bag of claim 2,wherein the first and second walls include respective handles.
 14. Theanimal waste bag of claim 2, wherein the third wall includes an adhesivestrip located on an exterior surface of the third wall proximate to andsubstantially parallel to an opening of the second pouch.
 15. The animalwaste bag of claim 1, wherein each additional pouch has a unique heightdifferential from the central pouch.
 16. A method for retrieving animalwaste using an animal waste bag, comprising: a central pouch; and one ormore additional pouches formed exterior to the central pouch such thateach additional pouch is successively exterior to the preceding pouch,the method comprising: retrieving and containing first animal wastewithin one of the additional pouches via inversion of the additionalpouch; and retrieving and containing second animal waste within thecentral pouch via inversion of the central pouch, wherein the firstanimal waste is maintained within the additional pouch during inversionof the central pouch.